CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. — Crystal River is ranked sixth on HomeToGo.com's list of one-tank trip destinations for Floridians.
The online vacation rental booking site said nightly stays costing less than $100 were a key factor in the ranking.
The area draws visitors with fishing, kayaking, and diving for scallops. But Crystal River — known as the Manatee capital of the world — may be best known for the thousands of West Indian manatees that gather in its warm, spring-fed waterways during the colder months.
"So the thing visitors love the most is when you come here during winter, there's these huge aggregations of manatees in the springs. King's Bay itself probably has about 10% of the total estimated manatee population in the state of Florida. So in the bay here, we'll get over 1,000," said Alex Arrow.
Arrow is a wildlife refuge specialist at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. For some visitors, the experience goes beyond simply spotting manatees in the water.
"And the luckiest visitors, they might get to see a manatee release or a manatee rescue as it's going on, which is very unpredictable, but of course everybody loves to see that," said Arrow.
A signature attraction in Crystal River is Three Sisters Springs. An accessible boardwalk surrounds the springs, allowing visitors to look down into crystal-clear water filled with hundreds of manatees during winter.
A team of volunteers is on hand to answer questions, and ranger-led programs cover manatee biology, history, and conservation. The springs are also a notable birding destination, with a wetland that draws a variety of birds.
Beyond Three Sisters Springs, visitors can book private sightseeing tours on the bay, join tours that include swimming with manatees, kayak through King's Bay, or stop by the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge's visitor center.
Arrow told Tampa Bay 28 the dedication of Crystal River's conservation community is what he values most about the area.
"What I like best is essentially the community. Crystal River has a really invested group of stakeholders in the manatees, everybody from tour operators to the different federal and state agencies to just people that are out there swimming and they see a manatee that they think needs help. It's really this, you know, I like to say conservation is a team sport and this really exemplifies that and I really like that about this area quite a bit," said Arrow.
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